Leaders Class

What a great first week back!

This week, to mark Remembrance Day, Leaders have been exploring Sleights war memorial and the people commemorated on it. They have created thoughtful pieces of work around this, which will be displayed around the memorial and village this weekend. We were also joined by Mr Hann, a former Royal Air Force Wing Commander (Retired). Mr Hann worked with Leaders to explore some of his own stories and reflections on his time serving. Mr Hann shared with the children some of his first-hand experiences and brought some of his equipment and uniform into school. The children were really engaged to also see photographs and medals from Mr Hann’s service. The children had so many questions and made some excellent contributions.

The children have also been busy in DT this week. This half term, the children will be designing and making their own re-usable bag. To start this unit, Leaders explored a range of existing bag designs with a focus on their appearance, durability and functionality. 

In English, we have began to explore poetry. The children identified features within a free verse poem and are looking forward to creating their own next week. We have also continued to read our class text, ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’. This week, we learned more about Ahmet’s journey to the UK before completing reading activities linked to this chapter.

This week in English, Leaders have completed their explanations focusing on Global Neighbours. They have used a range of causal conjunctions and adverbials in their writing and have also included parenthesis to provide the reader extra information. Leaders have also been pushing themselves when selecting vocabulary.

In maths, Leaders have learned about prime, square and cubed numbers and have completed some tricky reasoning questions during these lessons. Each day at the start of maths, Leaders also complete key skills and it is great to see the speed and accuracy at which this is being completed. Excellent effort Leaders!

In art this week, the children selected from a range of graded pencils, charcoal and chalks and from a range of drawing techniques to create effects for different purposes, including creating different textures, using Henry Moore’s drawings as inspiration. We are looking forward to applying these effects to our own pieces of art, inspired by our locality. 

On Thursday, Leaders enjoyed gathering at St John’s Church for the first time this year. To welcome the new starters, Leaders shared what to expect from their time at Sleights, which covered lessons, trips, clubs, Collective Worship and lunches! It was a brilliant service and a great way to welcome the new starters at Sleights.

Check back next week to find out about out first class trip of the year!

It has been another busy week in Leaders class.

In maths this week, we have tackled rounding any integer up to the nearest million and can confidently explain the steps needed to do this. We have also explored negative numbers and can calculate and solve problems with these. 

In history this half term, we are learning about the Romans. This week, we considered how Rome was formed. We explored the story of Romulus and Remus in a reading lesson and then demonstrated our understanding through drama. Each group was given a part of the story to act out, without using any speech, and the rest of the class had to identify the part of the story being performed. 

On Monday, we were joined by Owen from Yorkshire cricket. We played games to practice throwing and catching skills before enjoying a game of last batter standing. The enthusiasm, level of skill and team work demonstrated was wonderful to see. 

In Leaders class, we love to read and we have been enjoying a range of books and texts together and independently this half term. In our whole class reading lessons, our focus is ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ and at the end of each day we are currently reading ‘ Can you see me?’. We are already thoroughly enjoying these books and look forward to sharing more with you about them soon.

What an amazing start to the new school year Leaders have had!

In maths, the children have been working extremely hard on place value and persevering when faced with challenges with excellent success. They have mastered reading, writing and ordering numbers to 10,000,000.

In English, we have been creating our own Terra Cartas, inspired by the text, ‘It’s Up to Us’. The children have written thoughtful responses when writing about nature and the impact that human actions are having on the planet. The published books are looking incredible.

In computing and PSHE, the children have been considering how to stay safe online. They have considered what harmful content is and how to report it as well as how to create safe profiles online.

On Thursday, it was great to hear the music of our class band once again. This year, we have teamed up with the Discoverers to make a new Year 5/6 class band and we are looking forward to more brilliant performances as the year progresses.

This half term, our Christian Value is Thankfulness. The children have enjoyed exploring this value through the story of Jesus and the lepers this week in Worship.

It has been another wonderful week in Leaders class.

In history this week, the children considered how we know about the Mayan time period to finish off their learning in this area. They considered evidence such as buildings, writing, books and number systems. 

On Wednesday morning, Leaders enjoyed time in the forest. The children worked together to create forest faces on trees and then used their collage skills from art to create images with their forest finds. They displayed great teamwork and communication skills to complete the tasks.

On Thursday, it was a joy to gather together in church and celebrate all things music. The Leaders class band were amazing as always and it was wonderful to hear individual performances from many of the children in class. 

Well done everyone!

This week, the Leaders have continued to explore the Mayan time period. Using a range of sources, they have found out about city life, with a focus on the layout of them. They found that the higher in the societal hierarchy you were, the closer to the center that you lived. The children also learned about Mayan Gods and created some brilliant pieces of writing based on what they found out.

In art, Leaders have continued to focus on collage, with a focus on the artist Hannah Hoch. The children learned that she used photomontage in her work and used her techniques to create their own collages. The work created is brilliant. 

The children have also been busy preparing for the music concert next week. We have some wonderful class band, recorder and individual performances ready to share with families next week.

On Friday, we were joined by Whitby Fire Service. The children were presented with information about camp fire safety. They learned that fires must only be started with an adult present and about where to start them and with what materials. Once the camp fire was lit, the children learned how to put it out safely.